The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 eBook

Than truth more worthy of credence,
Chanted hath of Maia’s offspring!
This so shapely and potent, yet
Scarcely-born delicate nursling,
Straight have his gossiping nurses
Folded in purest swaddling fleece,
Fastened in costly swathings,
With their irrational notions.
Potent and shapely, ne’ertheless,
Draws the rogue his flexible limbs,
Body firm yet elastic,
Craftily forth; the purple shell,
Him so grievously binding,
Leaving quietly in its place;
As the perfected butterfly,
From the rigid chrysalid,
Pinion unfolding, rapidly glides,
Boldly and wantonly sailing through
Sun-impregnated ether.

So he, too, the most dextrous,
That to robbers and scoundrels,
Yea, and to all profit-seekers,
He a favoring god might be,
This he straightway made manifest,
Using arts the most cunning.
Swift from the ruler of ocean he
Steals the trident, yea, e’en from Ares
Steals the sword from the scabbard;
Arrow and bow from Phoebus too,
Also his tongs from Hephaestos
Even Zeus’, the father’s, bolt,
Him had fire not scared, he had ta’en.
Eros also worsted he,
In limb-grappling, wrestling match;
Stole from Cypria as she caressed him,
From her bosom, the girdle.

(An exquisite, purely melodious lyre-music resounds
from the cave. All become attentive, and appear
soon to be inwardly moved; henceforth, to the pause
indicated, there is a full musical accompaniment.)

PHORKYAS

Hark those notes so sweetly sounding;
Cast aside your fabled lore:
Gods, in olden time abounding,—­
Let them go! their day is o’er.

None will comprehend your singing;
Nobler theme the age requires:
From the heart must flow, up-springing,
What to touch the heart aspires.

[She
retires behind the rock.]

CHORUS

To these tones, so sweetly flowing,
Dire one! dost incline thine ears,
They in us, new health bestowing,
Waken now the joy of tears.

Vanish may the sun’s clear shining,
In our soul if day arise,
In our heart we, unrepining,
Find what the whole world denies.